


Long Night

by lunardiaz



Category: How I Met Your Mother
Genre: Best Friends, Cute, Drinking & Talking, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, One Shot, Partying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 18:13:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6435025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunardiaz/pseuds/lunardiaz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You and Ted both go to a party together, only to find out it was quite possibly the worst party in all of New York.. A cute drabble for anyone else who is in love with Ted Mosby.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The way this story is written you can either picture yourself as you, Robin as 'you', so on and so forth.

"Remind me why we came again."

  
Ted's chest rose and fell steadily as he broke the silence that had been hovering over the two of you for the last few minutes.

  
Earlier that night, you had begged him to come to a party in Brooklyn with you. You had been invited by one of your college acquaintances, but didn't really have the guts to go alone- so Ted was the first person you could think of that would be nice enough to go with you. And you may or may not have had a minor crush on him. The only problem was that the party sucked. From the minute you walked in, you regretted inviting him.

  
For starters, there wasn't a single drop of alcohol in the apartment. How someone could throw a party with college friends and be stupid enough to not have any booze was beyond you, but still. You both tried to keep a happy face and push through.

  
Then, when you had made your way over to the hostess, you had absolutely no idea who she was. Whatsoever. Apparently, it didn't occur to you to really check the invitation when you got it. All you saw was your alma mater and a couple of familiar names when you said you'd come.

  
Ted had convinced you to ditch with him, but it didn't take much effort. You were sick of the so-called "party" already. After some navigating, you found the staircase up to the roof, and you had both laid down next to each other on the grimy floor, watching airplanes and smog in the New York sky.

  
"I thought it would be fun," you said in defense, turning to look at him.

  
Though Ted's face was shrouded in a layer of darkness, you could see him turn to face you with an incredulous look. "You're joking, right?"

  
Shrugging, you turned back up to the sky. "Well, I mean, she was apparently in my algebra class freshman year, but.."

  
"You had to take remedial algebra?" He was laughing now, and you shoved him.

  
"Shut the hell up. Not everyone wants to do math for a living. I came to get free beer."

 

Ted was quiet for a couple of seconds after you spoke. "Well, we could have gone to MacLaren's, with everyone else, but instead you-"

 

Rolling your eyes, you propped yourself up on your elbows. "Shut up. I just won't invite you to anything ever again if it was that terrible."

  
"It really was that terrible."

  
"Well, I'm sorry."

  
You huffed a little and laid back down, closing your eyes. A deflated feeling enveloped your senses. Ever since you had met Ted, you had been trying to get to know him and hang out one-on-one- but he always shot you down. It was never mean, just sarcastic.

  
And you knew that the party was going to suck, but it was an opportunity to.. Hang out, and not be crammed into a booth at a pub with five other people.

  
"I think I see a UFO," he said, derailing your train of thought. "Look, right there." Ted was pointing at a blob of lights travelling across the sky.

  
"Maybe they'll come abduct us from this raging party." You turned to look at him, smiling ever so slightly. "I have no idea how to get out of this apartment building, or how to get back to mine from here."

  
You closed your eyes again after watching the potential alien spacecraft for a few more seconds. "You're not coming back to MacLaren's after this?" Ted asked, and you could hear him turn to look at you.

  
"No. You can go by yourself and tell Marshall and Lily how horrible the party was yourself."

  
His voice sounded a little disappointed as he spoke again. "Oh. I just thought we could, like, hang out more.. since these plans didn't really work out."

  
You were about to say something defensive about the party and how it wasn't your fault and he should have just stayed home anyway if he was just going to complain about it the whole time, but then you realized what he said.

  
"I.. Well, yeah.. I guess.. I have a few dollars.." You were trying to come up with a way to respond to his offer without sounding utterly desperate. "Only if we can find our way out, though."

  
You opened your eyes and saw him smiling at you, a real, genuine smile, something you rarely saw from Ted, but he looked away almost immediately when you caught him. "I hate to disappoint, but I design buildings, not find my way out of them."

  
"That was a really stupid joke," you said, but you were laughing. You couldn't help it.

  
The cold was starting to dawn on the city, and it didn't help that the two of you were on top of a building. You ran your hand down your exposed arm, trying to get rid of the subsequent goosebumps. "Can we leave now?" you asked, looking over at him again.


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn't your first time hanging out at MacLaren's. In fact, hanging out at MacLaren's was something you did almost every night. Ever since meeting the group, it had weaved its way into your routine.

  
But it was your first time hanging out at MacLaren's alone with Ted.

  
It wasn't like he was intimidating. The only intimidating thing about him was his height, but even then, when Marshall was around, Ted looked like a little kid.

  
He sat across from you on the opposite side of your usual booth. Ted looked disheveled and tired as he folded a napkin in his hands, trying to create some type of origami piece, and failing.

 

"Where are Marshall and Lily?" you asked him as the waitress set two mugs of beer on the table.

  
Ted shrugged a little as he took his glass. "I think they're out at some sort of date night. Marshall is trying to impress her by taking her somewhere nicer than here."

  
Chuckling, you took a sip of your drink. "Sounds like fun." Ted's origami creation lay abandoned on the table, half-finished. You reached across and grabbed it.

  
"You have to make the folds.. crease-ier, or else it won't stay." With your nails, you deepened the fold and tried to finish whatever he had going. "Did they not teach you this in college?"

  
Ted rolled his eyes and took back the napkin, setting it on the edge of the table. "I'm sorry that it doesn't reach your high standards." He said it with annoyance dripping from his voice, but he was smiling.

  
The next half hour passed by, cracking jokes and drinking, until both of you were a little drunk and stumbling out of MacLaren's. It was almost midnight as you reached the steps to Ted's apartment.

  
The street was almost empty, something rare for this part of town. You both stood leaned against the concrete wall, exchanging goodbyes.

  
"I had fun tonight," Ted told you, running his hand down his arm.

  
You looked up from rummaging in your purse, scoffing slightly. "Don't you dare lie to me, Mosby. We couldn't even last an hour in there."

  
He chuckled and shook his head. "No, yeah, that was bad.. I meant, I had fun hanging out with you." Ted paused. "We should do it again sometime."

  
As you started blushing, you realized how grateful you were for the fact that it was dark outside. "Yeah, we should. And I promise next time I won't drag you to a shit party in the middle of Brooklyn next time."

  
"I appreciate it." An awkward laugh surfaced from him, causing you to rack your brain for a response. Any response. Ted started to turn around to go into his building, obviously feeling as awkward as you did.

  
"Wait!" You blurted out with more force than you had originally intended to use. Ted turned around, looking a little alarmed. Oh God. "Can.. can you wait with me while I try to hail a cab? I don't really want to get mugged tonight."

  
Ted nodded and walked back down the stairs, standing next to you. "Yeah, sure." His dark eyes flitted around the road, leaning forward slightly. "You might be waiting here for a while."

  
_Shit_ , you kept thinking. _Why did I get him to come back down here?_ "If it's too much of a hassle for you, you can just-"

  
"You can stay over at the apartment tonight if you don't want to wait out here."

  
When he suggested that, you felt a thousand times better about having blurted out what you did. But now you could see anxiety filling his face as you put off an answer without realizing what you were doing.

  
"I.." You started, not knowing where to take the sentence. "Uh, yeah, actually, that would be really.. Really great."

  
The tension in the air disappeared a little as he nodded and started walking back to the building with you. The walk up to his apartment felt like a voyage around the entirety of the Earth- it was taking forever. In the elevator, you leaned against the opposite wall, shutting your eyes and regretting your decisions.

  
"Marshall and Lily probably won't be home until tomorrow," Ted told you as he unlocked the door to their apartment.

  
You nodded and walked in, turning back to look at him. "I.. I really appreciate you letting me stay over. It helps a lot. And I had fun tonight." You started smiling, a real smile, but you weren't quite sure why.

  
There were a couple more agonizing seconds of awkward silence as he locked the door again. The next thing you did was either completely overthought or not thought out or planned at all.

  
You kissed Ted. Yes, Ted, the one you hung out with every night, the one who doesn't see you like that at all, and sometimes you wondered if he even saw you as a friend.

  
But you kissed him.

  
He was pressed up against the door to his apartment, going rigid for a couple of seconds, but then he kissed you, too. Ted's hand moved to the small of your back as his lips started to move in sync with yours.

  
Ted's lips were soft, and his hands moved gently on your waist as he started walking with you, not separating at all. There were butterflies, a knot, whatever you want to call it in your chest as the two of you were making your way to his bedroom.

  
"Ted-" You said as your legs hit the back of his bed. Your arms were tangled around his neck and his around your waist, your leg between his. You had never been this close to him, hell, you couldn't even remember the last time you had hugged him.

  
"I love you." He responded without missing a beat. His brown eyes stared into yours, his breathing ragged, his voice sounding like the most beautiful and genuine thing you had ever heard.

  
All the uncertainty you had a few seconds ago washed away, and at that moment in time, there was only one thing you had to get off your chest, one thing you had to tell him before you could go any further.

  
"I love you, too."


End file.
